Attachment for telephone mouthpiece



April 10, 1956 M. LUTZ 2,741,666

ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECE Filed Jan. 2, 1953 FIG, I.

l5 I7 20 28 24 [4 3O 35 36 INVENTOR MAX LUTZ ATTORNEYS Uni ed States Patent ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONE MOUTHPIECE Max Lutz, Los Angeles, Calif. Application January 2, 1953, Serial No. 329,288 2 Claims. (Cl. 179-185) This invention has to do with an attachment for a telephone mouthpiece adapted to hold an aromatic, antiseptic or germicidal substance.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel, simple means in the nature of an attachment for a telephone mouthpiece which is particularly designed to hold a body of antiseptic, germicidal or other desired substance.

Another object is to provide such a device which can be readily manufactured and which is easy to install and service.

A further object is to provide an attachment of the type indicated which is formed of two members, namely an inner member contoured to fit the telephone mouthpiece and adapted to contain pellets or bodies of an antiseptic, germicidal or other desired substance and an outer member which detachably fits the mouthpiece and serves to retain the antiseptic, germicidal, or other substance used.

Another object is to provide a device of the type indicated which safely holds the antiseptic or other material free from possible contact with the telephone mouthpiece.

These and other objects will be apparent from the drawing and the following description.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the mouthpiece end of a French telephone instrument showing my invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a face or plan view of my attachment means;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the two parts of my attachment means;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the inner side of the inner member of my attachment means;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified form of inner member; and

Fig. 7 is a section on line 77 of Fig. 6.

More particularly describing the invention, numeral 11 indicates the mouthpiece end portion of a French telephone transmitter-receiver element and 12 generally indicates the attachment means of the invention. My attach ment includes an inner member 14 and an outer member 15 both of which are generally annular in form.

The inner member has a substantially flat outer face 17 which is interrupted by three recesses or pellet-receiving pockets 19, a pellet 20 being shown in Fig. 3 within one of these pockets. The under surface of member 14 may be formed to provide recessed portions 21 serving to lighten the member and effect a saving of material in production. Also, the under side should be shaped to fit the concave annular area 23 of the mouthpiece surrounding the central perforated voice-transmitting section 24 as appears from the cross-sectional view Fig. 3.

In the region of each of the recesses or pockets the inner member is provided with a groove 28 which acts as a communicating opening between the pellet pockets and the region radially inward beyond the inner edge of the member 14 when the device is assembled as will later appear.

The outer member 15 is adapted to detachably fit the telephone mouthpiece and serve both to retain the member 14 in place and also to retain the pellets 20 in the pockets 19. The member 15 has a fiat inner wall or body 30 which is adapted to overlie and be disposed against the upper surface 17 of the inner member, and outward of this, an inclined peripheral marginal portion 31. Member 15 also has three fingers 32 which fit over and engage underneath the rim portion 34 of the mouthpiece. I prefer to provide dowel-like projections 35 on the upper surface of the inner member for reception in dowel holes 36 in the member 15. The projections should fit tightly enough to releasably hold the two parts of the device toether.

The members 14 and 15 can be made of a variety of materials, however, certain so-called plastics are particularly suitable. The material should be one which is not subject to attack by the substance to be used therein. Also, the material should be sufficiently bendably resilient to permit some spn'nginess in the fingers 32.

In the use of the device pellets 20, which may be of any suitable antiseptic, germicidal or other substance which partially or completely evaporates, can be placed in the pockets 19, the members assembled and placed in position on the mouthpiece of-the telephone as shown in Figs. 1-3. It will be apparent that the evaporation of the substance of the pellets 20 can take place to the central perforated area of the mouthpiece through the grooves 28 thereby disinfecting this area. At the same time the pellets 20 are kept out of contact with the telephone mouthpiece. The parts can be readily disassembled to insert new pellets when required.

I contemplate that the pellet-receiving pockets or recesses can be made elongated if desired to accommodate larger bodies of the evaporative substances. Also, if desired, the inner member may be formed to provide a single annular channel to hold either a single annular or several semi-annular bodies of a desired antiseptic or germicidal substance. Thus in Figs. 6 and 7 I show a modified form of inner member, indicated by 40, which has an annular recess 41 in its outer surface. Communication is established between the recess and the inner edge of the member by a plurality of grooves 42 to permit evaporation of the substance when the parts are assembled on the telephone instrument.

Although I have illustrated and described preferred forms of my invention, I contemplate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the invention, the scope of which is indicated by the following claims.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a telephone mouthpiece having a wall with a central perforate area and an annular, imperforate, dished marginal area, comprising an annular, impervious inner member shaped to fit against and overlie the portion of the marginal area of said mouthpiece wall adjacent said perforate area, said inner member having a plurality of recesses in its outer side for the reception of antiseptic material or the like, and an annular, impervious outer member adapted to overlie and fit against said inner member covering said recesses, said outer member having means thereon for releasably holding the same on the mouthpiece of a telephone, said inner member being formed to provide a passage from each of said recesses through the inner edge of the member.

2. An attachment means as set forth in claim 1 in which interengaging means are provided on said inner and outer members for releasably holding the same together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Glucl; Nov. 24, 193i Faltz July 28, 1942 

